Middlebury man faces sentencing in Donovan case

By The Associated Press

The Bulletin

By The Associated Press

Posted Nov. 4, 2013 at 9:49 AM

By The Associated Press
Posted Nov. 4, 2013 at 9:49 AM

NEW HAVEN — A Middlebury man who owned two roll-your-own tobacco shops in Waterbury is facing sentencing for his role in a campaign financing plot surrounding former state House Speaker Chris Donovan's failed congressional campaign.

Paul Rogers is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in federal court in New Haven. He pleaded guilty in January to devising a scheme to bribe a public official, conspiring to make false statements to the Federal Election Commission and impeding the agency's enforcement of federal campaign finance laws.

Prosecutors say Rogers and others schemed to hide the source of $27,500 in contributions to Donovan's congressional campaign last year, in hopes of trying to block state legislation that would harm the roll-your-own tobacco industry. Rogers is among eight defendants convicted in the case.